'The Fifteen' book review: To be read and revered
History has a way of erasing its traces. Especially in India, where monuments are falling into disrepair every day, there isn’t time to breathe and ask. Were there any women at all in our first cabinet? Who were they and what was their contribution to the polity of our country? These questions are asked and answered succinctly by the authors of the book, The Fifteen: The Lives and Times of the Women in India’s Constituent Assembly. Offering 15 biographies in one volume may be too hurried, and does not do justice to any. Still, the authors—Angellica Aribam and Akash Satyawali—have done credible research and told their stories, and it is an important first step.
There is some commonality in the stories of all these women. All of them struggled: some against deep poverty, others against mindsets. They educated themselves at a time when women’s education was scarce. They fought to make themselves heard, and often were ridiculed for it. Most of them went to jail against the British Raj. They faced isolation and the politics they stood for often went against them. Yet, in their own way, they triumphed in the end. And have left their legacy for other women to follow in their footsteps.
Nothing came easy to Ammu Swaminathan. She married a man 23 years her senior with the condition that she could learn English and that he would never ask what time she would come home. He agreed and they settled in Madras. She immersed herself in the freedom struggle. Her name was a household one and when she fought the first Lok Sabha elections, she won by over 10,000 votes.
In the case of Annie Mascarene, her fight for social justice lasted all her life. She was a member of the Constituent Assembly while also holding the post of minster of health and power in the Travancore-Cochin government. A fighter to the end, she lamented the lack of women in politics and worked against detention of political prisoners.
In her own defence against the charge of being two-faced, Begum Qudsia Aizaz Rasul defended wearing the naqab on occasion by saying that the personal must be kept away from the professional. Born to royalty, she married Nawab Aizaz Rasul in 1929. She was the only female Muslim leader of the Constituent Assembly and was conscious of her responsibilities.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Dakshayini Velayudhan was socially disadvantaged and had to fight for her rights. She highlighted the plight of Dalits in the Constituent Assembly. Unlike the other women, she rejected the AIWC as an elitist organisation. To Indians, she taught the intersectionality of being a woman and a Harijan, and all the complications that come with it.
India’s first health minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur wanted to study medicine and made up for it by sneaking into classes at the Oxford University. She was India’s finest tennis player and played at Wimbledon. In addition to being elected to the Constituent Assembly, she was also nominated to the 50-member Advisory Committee as well as for the subcommittees on fundamental rights and minorities.
No one in India needs an introduction to Sarojini Naidu, poet and freedom fighter. In 1946, she was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bihar. Her real work was in being the cultural ambassador of India where she spoke at various venues of her dreams for India. She participated in the Salt Satyagraha beside Gandhi in 1930 and, in 1931, attended the Second Round Table Conference. In 1947, she presided over the first Asian Relations Conference, which later became the Non-Aligned Movement.
Sucheta Kripalani was another well-known figure in the freedom movement and was known for the formation of the women’s wing of Congress, now known as All-India Mahila Congress. She went to prison for opposing the British call for Indian participation in World War II. On the eve of Independence, she sang the national anthem before Nehru’s tryst with destiny speech. In the Constituent Assembly, she spoke in favour of the Hindu Code Bill and how it stood for equality.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was torn between the lifestyle of her father and that of Gandhi, but she chose her own mix of the two. She moved the resolution for the repeal of GOI Act 1935 and set about forming the Constituent Assembly. With the passing of Ranjit Pandit, his family froze their bank account and the Hindu Succession Act was enacted in 1956 to give the wife, mother and direct descendants the right to property. She headed the delegation to the UN General Assembly session of 1946. In 1947, she was made the Ambassador to Russia. And two years later, to the US, launching her illustrious career as a diplomat.
These are the stories of women who inspire and burn with the fire to do something for the country. They must be read and revered.
There is some commonality in the stories of all these women. All of them struggled: some against deep poverty, others against mindsets. They fought to make themselves heard